Helped By The Woman's Relief Corps

An inquiry to determine if Mrs. Almina (Richmond) Langworthy should be admitted to the Old Soldier's Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan [she was] was explored. A partial answer to that question found in a letter dated 22 April 1909, from Mary M. Ford, President Corp. 245, Big Rapids, Michigan, below:


Big Rapids Mich
April 22, 1909

Mrs. Jennie Pond
Lansing, Mich.

My dear Sister:

Yours of the 12th received, but was a little late in reaching me, on account of going first to our past President, Mrs. Harshman and it took me some little time to investigate the case of Mrs. Langworthy and have done the best I could.

One of the five children*...I hear, is in the insane asylum

...and the others are not in very good circumstances, have no property of any amount. As to the physical and mental condition of Mrs. Langworthy I was not able to learn much, but one gentleman, who has known the family a good many years, tells me that she is a very worthy woman and we don't think there will be any mistake made in admitting her to the annex at the Soldier's Home. Hoping these answers to your questions will prove satisfactory.

I am sincerely yours

in F. C. & L.
Mary M. Ford
President Corp. 245,
Big Rapids
Mich.

220 Rust Ave.

Persons admitted (or not) ca 1903/1904 by the Woman's Relief Corps found here. Woman's Relief Corps #245 was found on a list here.

WorldConnect family tree with Almina (Richmond) Langworthy here.
*Don't know which child was in an insane asylum

[Note: Click on pictures above to enlarge]

Almina (Richmond) Langworthy - A Tale of Two Death Certificates

The copy of Almina's death record obtained from Mecosta County, Michigan, did not match the record that the Michigan Archives have posted online in an important way. In a previous post I outlined that I sent for the record hoping Almina (Richmond) Langworthy's death record would name her parents (Thomas Richmond & Laura Backus) because the death record for my great-great grandmother (Almina's sister, Cynthia) did not and I needed the documentation. Why did Mecosta County send back a record with Laura Balkins instead of Backus when I had given them the name Backus? Now that I've seen the State of Michigan's version of Almina's death record, which says Backus to me, I'm even more puzzled.

Of course I'm relieved that ___ Richmond and Laura Backus were listed on Almina (Richmond) Langworthy's death certificate. The name "Thomas" was not on the record; it was blank. It was for the Backus line that was the crucial piece of proof was needed.

Is Thomas P. Richmond's Final Resting Place In Lapeer?

Where was my Thomas P. Richmond after the 1860 census? I don't know. Wish I did.

Thomas P. Richmond was born in 1807 in New York (probably Onondaga, Onondaga County, NY, where there's an Elijah Richmond enumerated in the 1810 census; Thomas was the son of Elijah & Elizabeth (Fowler) Richmond).

The Elijah Richmond family moved to Steuben County, New York, then to Conesus, Livingston Co., NY. Elijah and many of Thomas Richmond's siblings moved to Walworth Co., Wisconsin, from Livingston County about the same time that Thomas and his family moved to Lapeer County Michigan (in the 1850's).

In 1860 Thomas Richmond was in Lapeer County, Michigan:

1860 MI Census - Lapeer Co., Dryden Twp., Thornville P.O. July 17, 1860
LANGWORTHY, Thomas, 28, m, farmer, b. NY
" , Almina, 23, female, b. NY
, Alice, 3, f, b. Wisconsin
, Eva Jane, 11/12, female, b. MI
RICHMOND, Thomas, 53, male, farmer, b. NY
" " , Laura, 50, f. b. NY
" " , Emory C., 20, m, laborer, b. NY

Head of that household in 1860 was Thomas Richmond's son-in-law, Thomas Langworthy. The Richmonds, including Thomas Richmond's wife, Laura (Backus) Richmond, and his son, Emory, were living with the Langworthy family.

Then there was a warranty deed where the grantor was Thomas Richmond and the grantee was another son-in-law, James More, which was made 2 June 1860 in Lapeer County, Michigan (recorded in 1861).

When the 1870 census was taken, Laura (Backus) Richmond was living with her daughter, Cynthia (Richmond) More and son-in-law, James More, her "More" grandchildren, in addition to James More's sister, Jane (More) Millar and her family, and also an unrelated farm laborer in Thornville, Metamora Township, Lapeer County, Michigan.

The assumption is that Thomas P. Richmond died some time between June of 1860 (or perhaps 1861 when the warranty deed was recorded) and September 1870 when the census was taken and he was not living with his wife, Laura, in Lapeer County. I've pored through the Lapeer County, Michigan, deed books, have looked at cemetery records, checked for probate records in Lapeer as well as other miscellaneous records and have come up with nothing leading me to a date of death or final resting place.

Death Certificate of Almina Langworthy

Almina (Richmond) Langworthy was the sister of my ancestress, Cynthia (Richmond) More, and the daughter of Thomas P. & Laura (Backus) Richmond. Cynthia's death record (1912 in Lapeer Co., Michigan) did not list her parents, so I sent for Almina's death certificate hoping that parents would be listed. It was a partial victory - however since I was trying to prove relationship to Laura BACKUS, listing the record as "Laura Balkins" was frustrating, especially since I mentioned that her parents were Thomas Richmond and Laura Backus. I now need to see the original, handwritten entry to see if it reads "Backus" to me.

Almina (Richmond) Backus is a Mayflower descendant through her mother, Laura Backus, to Constance Hopkins (and of course, Stephen Hopkins).

Her death record from Mecosta Co., Michigan:

Almina Langworthy In Old Soldier's Home

Almina (Richmond) Langworthy was the daughter of Thomas (#5266 in the J.B. Richmond book) and Laura (Backus) Richmond. A Langworthy researcher has her listed here.

Posted is a copy of her application to live in the Home For Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan (based upon the service in the Civil War of her husband, Thomas J. Langworthy).

More information about the Old Soldier's Home in Grand Rapids can be found here. I found Almina's file while researching in the Grand Rapids library a couple of years ago.